Hampshire Hotel - De Witte Raa Noordwijk

... We caught the 10:07, which was running about ten minutes late, from Woodbridge straight through to London LiverpoolStreet. From there we took the circle line to Picadilly where we transfered to the Picadilly line to Heathrow terminals 1,2,3. It was a nice and easy trip. Minus the slight delay of our first train, we pretty much jumped from one train to another without any waiting between. Once we got on the Picadilly line the ...

... down for a nap and Carly was close, so I took her cash (how embarrassing) and left for the Anna Frank House, something I wanted to see but didn't think it would be appropriate to take the kids. It wasn't for sure. It was very somber. I nearly cried many times. Such a simple tour, with videos and quotes from her book all over. It's so hard to believe humans were capable of such atrocity. But it was also ...

... to meet Karen at the pick up point, but Dylan decided he would go pick her up at the first pickup spot, not the one from where the tour started. This gave me time to talk to the Kiwis, an interesting bunch. There was a couple, the girl being very pretty and tall but quiet, and the guy was very relaxed and just fun to be around. Their friend, an Aussie, was being third wheel, but she didnt seem to mind. All 6 of us meet at the point and got ...

... really cool. After playing a bit of soccer a bunch of us just walked around the beach and got food to eat. Before we left we saw these amazing sand sculptures of Disney movies that had been made and got to see the hotel where the Dutch national football team stays when they're in town.

... trade during the time in history I just spoke of), but Sukasari came highly recommended by the proprietor our hotel. Elaine's a vegetarian and always (whether or not she wants to admit it) faces the challenge of finding something new and delicious to grub on when we go out. Well, an Indonesian specialty is the Rijsstaffel (pronounced Rice Taw-ful). It means rice table. We received a large bowl of steamed white rice and, surrounding it like ...

... menus of what seemed hundreds of different kind of herbs, and seeds. Marijuana plants in the windows and so forth. I found my way to a square as the sun was setting where there was a group of guys playing hacky sac in a circle - I was defiantly in the mood to kick a dirt bag around. Making friends quickly, these were all college graduates on a break for a week of living to see a jam festival here in Amsterdam - I had a great conversation with one, turns out he is ...

... was named Batavia in those days and was the cradle of spices so coveted in Europe, particularly clove and nutmeg.  Considering I lived in Indonesia for 4 years, seeing so much Indonesian culture around me in this European city made it all the more homely.     In 2002, Maxima Zorreguieta, an Argentine investment banker, married Prince Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, heir to the Dutch ...

... He made it look easy and hard at the same time. Then we got to taste some of the cheese, my favorite being the smoked ham and onion one (Very tasty). Cara and then decided to jump into the giant clog out the front for a photo opportunity. It was all well and good at the time, then we realised that we couldn't get out without getting nailed because we were sitting on a rickety old piece of wood inside the clog that was like a see-saw. Needless to say we did get out eventually in ...

... renovated the place. Now, the tour is self-guided with progressive, interactive exhibits, virtual rides, and three free beers to be collected along the way at modern bars. Although enjoyable, I liked the old tour better. Nonetheless, the tour marked the end of our official touring. In denial that our five month trip was coming to an end, we went to one last coffee shop and re-capped for a while. We stopped for some Indonesian food on the way home and packed up for an early departure the next morning.

Everything has completely changed one day from yesterday. Tom left to go home. Plain and simple. We went down for a so called "breakfast" at our last hotel which consisted of bread, butter and orange juice. Ok, so we took off towards a mkt area and found me a bag. Which we did and it was an amazing deal. (I still have that backpack today!) Anyhow, then I had to find a vacant ...